The Black Sun Conspiracy

Chapter Twenty-Four

“In retrospect we should’ve anticipated this.” Nina rattled the locked gate gently. “I saw the gates earlier on, but since it’s a through road I just didn’t register that they’d be locked. Stupid.”

Sam looked around. There was nothing nearby that looked as if it would open any earlier than the museums. “I wonder what time they open the gates?” he mused aloud. “We could try coming back first thing in the morning.”

“If there’s someone here to open the gates, that means there’s someone around — and whoever opens them, I doubt they’d fancy letting us dig things up. I think it’s got to be now, Sam. Come on. Give me a leg up.”

The gates were made of long, vertical, twisted iron bars, each ending in a treacherous point. There was a gap between the gate and the stone archway that framed it, leaving enough space for one person at a time to climb through, but Sam could see no footholds that would make the climb any easier. Especially for Nina, being both short and injured.

She saw the doubt on his face and was having none of it. “Sam, we’ve got to do this. If this is what’s going to get us home, we’d better just get on with it. So thank you for your concern, but I’ll manage. I just need you to give me a leg up.”

With a shrug, Sam crouched down and formed a basket with his hands. “Up you go, then.” Nina put her foot on his hands and let him boost her upwards, far enough for her to catch hold of the bars and start pulling herself over. Once she was clear of the spikes she dropped to the ground on the other side, stifling a cry as a searing pain shot through her injured ankle upon impact.

Sam picked up the shovel and trowel and handed them to her through the bars before he began to climb as well. His fingers closed around the cold iron and he hauled himself up, jamming his toes against the twists in the bars. Little by little he inched his way towards the top, then landed in a clumsy heap beside Nina.

“Not my most graceful moment,” he winced. “Come on. Let’s dig.”

The ground at the spot Purdue had indicated at which the gazes of the riders crossed was hard in the cold weather and not particularly susceptible to digging. Sam’s shoulders ached. Fortunately he had only to dig down a couple of feet before he hit a container of some sort and Nina took over with the trowel. He stood by, holding the torch, and tried to breathe heat into his frozen fingers while she worked.

A short metal cylinder lay in the hole that they had dug. Nina pulled it out and examined it. Unlike the reliquary it was completely smooth, and at one end there was a cap which she unscrewed easily and pulled out a long sheet of parchment.

“It’s a map,” she said. “Of course it is. Bring the torch a bit closer?” Nina held the map up close to her face and squinted at it. “Ah. That’s not so helpful. It’s not a map that will lead us from here to the next place — look, it’s just a map of what looks like a park or a garden. Two lakes next to each other — or maybe one lake with a bridge across it; and… this building. Presumably that’s where we’re meant to go, since it’s drawn larger than anything else on the map. What do you think?”

The sketch was quite exquisite, delicate and detailed. Clean black lines snaked across the thick ivory parchment. It was not an antique, but evidently someone had taken a great deal of trouble to make it look as if it was. The building in the map looked like it belonged on a chocolate box, to the point where Sam wondered whether it could possibly depict something real — but with Bruges all around them, filled with one impossibly pretty and pristine building after another, perhaps it was not so implausible. Beneath a roof that ended in stepped gables were pale red brick walls with small leaded windows.

“What’s it sitting on top of?” Sam asked, pointing to the series of arches that seemed to be propping the house up.

“I’m not sure.” Nina scrutinized it. “This looks like water here, so I’d guess it’s beside a river or something. Maybe the arches are for boats? Or a dam of some kind? I don’t know. Purdue could probably do an image search, though.” She began to roll up the parchment. “Let’s fill the hole in and then head—”

The gate clanked. They froze. Slow, careful footsteps crunched across the gravel, more than one set.

Trying not to look round, Sam reached out to Nina to help her up. She took his hand and got to her feet. The footsteps grew closer, one set on either side. Sam adjusted his grip on the shovel, ready to use it as the closest thing he had to a weapon. He looked over at Nina to see if she was doing the same thing with the trowel, but she was looking straight past him, over his shoulder. Her eyes widened.

“Get down!” she hissed, tugging hard on Sam’s arm so that bent down immediately. A knife whistled over his head, exactly where he had been a moment earlier. It clattered against the ground as it fell.

They ran. Sam, being stronger and swifter, took the lead. Picking a direction at random he turned right at the gate, pulling Nina behind him. A black car sped past them and screeched to a halt, cutting them off. They skidded and scrambled round, ready to flee in the opposite direction, but the car door flew open and a familiar blonde head looked out.

“Nina! Sam!” Axelle cried. “Get in!”

Hearing the sound of pursuing footsteps behind them, Sam and Nina hurled themselves into the car. The door slammed shut behind them and the engine roared as they sped away.